The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1887-01-19
TlDD'S PROPOSAL.
BY BLAKELY HALL.

''This," said Mr. P. Livingston Tidd
yesterday morning as he rose from rest
less bed and perched, by way of change,
upon the rugged top of his trunk, ''this
is the eventful day. I'll do it to-day or
go down to the river and fall off pier.
The fact is, you know" he continued,
sliding down from the trunk and ad-
dressing his mirror .Sargumentatively,
.Tm beginning to l0Bk like a Bowery
freak, with all thu IVORY and layn'
awake nights, and it might as well be
settled. To-day do it."
1t was said boldly, but there was
sheepish look on the hsggard face of p.
Livingston Tidd as ke recalled the many
previous occasions on which he had
begun the day with a similar resolution
and failed utterly to carry it out. He
turned IRON the mirror, fell upon his
knees on the floor, and rescued the pho
tograph of placid looking young wo-
man from the dust. He looked at it
tragicsllyifor moment, and then turned
his eyes upward and said morosely:
"Ohl woman, woman, whether-no
whither-art thou leadin' met"
After this outburst he restored the
photograph to its infantile easel and pre-
pared himself for breakfast.
Mr.. Tidd lived in boarding house
where there were four or five other
clerks and statesmen, a retired grocer, two
''lady stenographers as they styled
themselves a family of children, and a
miscellaneous assortment of glum and
heartsick relatives of the landlady. The
relatives devoted most of their time to
accumulating loads of gloom of various
degrees of intensity during the day and
spending the evening in abusing the
landlady on whose bounty they lived.
(which, when looks um over" the
landlady said con6dentially one night to
Mr.. Tidd at dinner, with wave Of her
hand toward the down-cast dependents,
'it aint to be wondered at that / gifts an
occasernu. jog onto me-
"Jag," interrupted Mr.. T1dd, who was
a stickler for correctness in speech.
81 mean jag" said the lsndlady
blushing deeply at her ignorance of So
ciety nomenclature. ''Oh, dear, they've
all got the doldrums blue devils, and
dumps, an it amt surprisin' that I turns
at times to GIN"
1T amt, indeed" said Mr. Tidd, po-
litely. And as the landlady had made a
confident of him, what more natural than
that he should confide in herr Then, as
she promptly revealed everything to the
disconsolate relatives and they told the
others, it was pretty we'll understood in
Mrs. McPherson's boarding house that
P. Livingston Tidd, of the lace depe7t
ment 'of the great dry goods house of
Ellington, Cash & Co. was In love, and
slowly nerving himself up to propose.
A single glance at the unhappy sales
man as he stalked to the breakfast table
yesterday morning convinced them all
that he had not declared himself the
night before, and the landlady compass
sionately added another piece of sugar to
his coffee, and skillfully directed the
plate of hot wheat cake toward him. This
baked the five hungry and alert sales
men on the other side of the table, and a
wave of startled resentment swept over
them. The youngest even went so far as
10 remark in a hoarse whisper to his
neighbor that '.Tidd's heart might be in
bad way, but when wheat cakes was
hoatin around his stummick seemed to
git there with both feet, so to speak"
But there is no gainsaying the truth
that all the world loves a lover, and be-
fore breakfast was over the meagre appe,
tite of the unhappy Tidd had endeared
him to the most rabid wheatcake eater Of
them all. There was set look about the
mouth and CLASSY expression of the eye
when the salesman strode out that die
not pass unnoticed.
(Which if q certain party don't up anC
do it today Mrs. Mcpherson remarked
thoughtfully, as she leaned her elbow OF
the table and tapped her teeth elegant,
with a spoon, 'I'm very much mistaken
but" with cutting glance around, 81
the word of certain stuSfy persons wha
+ suffers uncommon hard from low sperit
is reliable. Pm mistaken very often.
Meanwhile Mr.. p. Livingston Tidd
was on his way to "the store, " of which
he always spoke with such reverentia
respect. The business of the lace de
! partment was in the hands of five youn(
men, at the head of whom Mr. Tide
easily held his position by virtue of eX
perience, untiring industry, and salar,
Of $1S a week. The man who was nOmi
nally in charge of the department. haC
recently shown such skill in selecting
dress goods for importation that his ser
vices were being utilized in that dircc
tion, while Mr.. Tidd did all the worl
with his accustomed energy. After thi
had been going on for some months j
CHANGED TO come to the ears of the firm
and Mr.. Ellington and Mr.. Cash fell t
discussing it just before luncheon yester
day.
''Do you know anything about thi
Gidd, Fidd, Bidd-what the deuce i
his namel-chap. Billington9" aske'
Cash.
'Very little, except that he's a mos
efficient young man, said the digni6eC